Comic. One... two... THREE! [text in red] X Deprecated [line break] One... two... three... GO! [text in red] Deprecated [red curly bracket around top two lines] Too easy to mix up [line break] Three... two... one... GO! [text in green] [check mark] ISO Standard [caption] If I were in charge of ISO, the first thing I’d do would be to standardize the way people count out loud before doing something in sync.

Countdown Standard

xkcd.com/3232/

Text screenshot from WaPo article: The administration considered ways it could use its own regulatory powers to limit the law’s reach. That spring, it called a meeting that included officials from the Commerce, State, Defense and Treasury Departments and White House to discuss potential strategies to advance free expression, according to a copy of the meeting materials viewed by The Post. The proposals included a system that would use export controls to offer tech companies more legal freedom to refuse requests from foreign governments to take down content, according to a copy of the proposal viewed by The Post. A licensing system run by the Commerce Department would have aimed to give American firms legal cover to object to requests to take down content deemed legitimate under a “speech standard” devised by the Trump administration.

Later in the same story -- this is an incomprehensible word salad that means nothing. Posturing absent policy.

this part is my favorite:

"We did not find anything,” said one of the people. "It was not politically convenient that we could not find anything."

The weeks-long investigation, details of which have not previously been reported, uncovered no records indicating censorship, according to two people familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution. “There is no evidence that Member States of the European Union are overreaching the DSA to censor and criminalize online content,” they wrote in conclusion.

So... the actual story reported here is that the administration set up a dedicated task force to document EU censorship and THEY COULD NOT FIND ANY.

Not that you'd know that from the headline.

www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...

It reports that in early 2025, Vance aides ordered State to document how EU regulators were censoring online speech.

“There is no evidence that Member States of the European Union are overreaching the DSA to censor and criminalize online content,” they wrote in conclusion.

Inside the Trump administration’s campaign to counter content bans in Europe The president has expanded efforts to fight what he sees as censorship overseas, using the State Department to target European governments.

This @washingtonpost.com piece on the State Department's inability to find *any* evidence of EU platform "censorship" and determination to insist on making a gigantic and disastrous issue of it is really something...

Brazil Wants to Reshape The Internet for Kids. The Hard Part Just Began. A Brazilian law aimed at protecting children online is set to take effect this week, but significant enforcement questions remain, Tatiana Dias reports.

Here's @techpolicypress.bsky.social with details on the forthcoming Presidential Decree on Brazil's new child protection law. Huge news that is mostly going unnoticed in US media.

www.techpolicy.press/brazil-wants...

Power restored in South Boulder for all of... 5 minutes. sigh. #cowx

An important and welcome intervention against the Trump administration weaponizing immigration policy against technology research and trust and safety workers.

Follow closely this welcome and really important new lawsuit challenging the Trump administration's policy punishing social media misinformation and hate researchers with immigration consequences.

For those who are curious, here is Blattman's resource guide for using Claude claudeblattman.com

To this point, political scientist @chrisblattman.bsky.social is going modestly viral with his embrace of Claude code on X, and it's like it never happened here. Not great!

Important thread. One of the serious downsides of Bluesky's AI allergy is that what passes for nuanced discourse on this topic is currently happening within the dumpster fire that is X.

@masnick.com: best case: more clarity and legal certainty, as uncertainty is as bad as a bad law. expand 230 and rollback FOSTA, have clarity about how it applies to AI

Matt Perault: hope for experimental approaches, try different liability regimes and learn something about costs and benefits.

@jmiers230.bsky.social: surprised if we will still have section 230, given current trajectory.

Great question from @jrhuddles.bsky.social to the panel: what are best and worst cases for section 230 at 50?

Final panel at Cato conference

Extra bluesky panel with @masnick.com @jmiers230.bsky.social Matt Perault and @matt.bsky.team moderated by @jrhuddles.bsky.social. All about genAI and 230…

Second panel at Cato 230 event

Next up: Gary Shapiro, Billy Easley, Ashkhen Kazaryan, Ari Cohn, and David Inserra

Panel discussion in Cato’s fancy auditorium

Hello DC! Currently at @cato.org Listening to @ericgoldman.bsky.social on Section 230, noting how difficult it is to be anonymous online these days.

BREAKING: SUPREME COURT *REJECTS* PRESIDENT TRUMP'S TARIFFS

What Boulder learned from Utah's last Sundance Film Festival City leaders say housing and staffing top concerns ahead of the winter festival.

Apparently Boulder's answer to how we can possibly host Sundance in less than a year is that we've got parking lots 🤨

Flurries on a red flag day… #cowx

screenshot of Claude Code in terminal that says "Roosting... (thinking)"

@julietshen.bsky.social, check out this verb from claude code!

Sounds right! We’re going to need a truth and reconciliation commission for a lot of things in this country. One among many is pundits fessing up to whether they were stupid or dishonest on these things.

What sort of community service do you recommend for superwuster?

Hey Sarah, you can access the same doc on our website, no PII needed, here:

From the folks that brought you ubiquitous cookie banners, here comes unending pagination clicks...

cover of The Washington Post on Wednesday Feb 4, 2026. Headline on bottom, right: Musk wanted to hook users; his chatbot got more sexual

My story on Elon Musk cutting safeguards at xAI is on the front page of today's @washingtonpost.com. I’m also among 100’s of reporters laid off. I absolutely loved my job my brilliant coworkers & the thrill of reporting @ the center of forces upending the world: AI & Silicon Valley’s political power

Europe’s Threat to American Speech and Innovation: Part II

I don't think I can bring myself to watch the latest House hearing on "European censorship" but here's the link if you want to. It is starting in one minute. 1/

judiciary.house.gov/committee-ac...